So what should I look for?

Wife needs one for a day, and I might as well get one that I may end up using down the road.

Thanks for any insight in advance.

That's an easy one.  HP Reverb!

Depends on what she needs it for. What is she using it with? The easiest set up is the oculus rift s if you want minimal programs required to make it work with the maximum amount of applications and not having to mess with external sensors. It is also one of the most affordable, comfortable and ergonomic ones out there with some of the best hand controllers.

Windows mixed reality ones don't require external sensors either but aren't as slick to get up and running.

Vive and valve are both more expensive and require the mounting of external sensors before use and are more cumbersome to set up although you cannot argue against the quality.

1 hour ago, FDEdev said:

That's an easy one.  HP Reverb!

Could you specify why? .According to LM, Oculus Rift and HTC Vive are directly supported.

http://www.prepar3d.com/SDKv3/LearningCenter/getting_started/virtual_reality/virtual_reality_overview.html

Edited December 4, 20196 yr by Nemo

Sadly I am not sure yet of the exact details, but she wants it as a "walking tour" of some cities.

Nothing too complicated, and supposedly the scenery is already available online.

Cannot give more information as she is at work and is still gathering information.

I just figured I would "benefit?" as we have to get a VR system for International day at my daughters school.

 

 

2 hours ago, Nemo said:

Could you specify why? .According to LM, Oculus Rift and HTC Vive are directly supported.

I'm only concerned about the usability/quality for flightsims, tried both and the Reverb is miles above e.g. the Rift S which is IMO just barely useable. 

Edited December 4, 20196 yr by FDEdev

Always take through the lens videos with a grain of salt.....

 

I did and I would get a Samsung Odyssey+. I expect the Reverb is a bit better but Microsoft and Samsung are practically giving them away. For now anyway.

4 hours ago, FDEdev said:

I'm only concerned about the usability/quality for flightsims, tried both and the Reverb is miles above e.g. the Rift S which is IMO just barely useable. 

Calling the Rift S “barely usable” is crazy talk. It’s probably the most popular flight sim HMD at the present time. I’ve got 5 HMDs at home at the moment, and this is my favourite. 
 

In terms of usability, WMR is quite poor with P3D. Yes, i’ve flown with a WMR headset this week and i’ll do it again, but rift software is far better at the moment.

Edited December 4, 20196 yr by OzWhitey

I hear a lot about the HP's superior resolution, but also about a relatively tiny sweet spot.

Since I found the also tiny sweet spot on my (now sold) Samsung Odyssey+ so generally annoying, I myself would hesitate about the Reverb.

I also found the WMR software and its interdependence with Steam to be clumsy, and Steam itself less tolerant of low framerates compared to the superior oculus ASW algorithms.

Additionally, while the Oculus will happily run all Steam games, WMR will not happily run the many Oculus exclusive titles out there without the intervention of yet another program (Revive) having to be brought into the mix.

Generally, I found the WMR standard controllers to be kind of awful, and the batteries died much, much more quickly that the Oculus Touch controllers.

Finally, I noticed that the vast majority of VR software extant in the wild conformed to Oculus/Vive compatible default controller setups, with relatively infrequent consideration for how those differed for WMR controllers. This then created a situation where certain games would not work without painstaking manual controller remapping by the user. ( I hear this is being addressed)

My overall feeling after Using WMR is that while you will get better resolution with the Reverb, you will likely pay a possibly unacceptable price for the finer image.

Of course, if you have no intention of using it for anything other than simming, and regard VR controllers as modernist plastic sculptures you have no intention of using, then the situation will be more balanced.

if possible test the different headsets for real before you decide on one, I'm absolutely not a fan of these comparisons with the lens videos, that shows almost nothing.

so much more plays a role for a great VR experience, the FOV, the sound, the HMD software, comfortable on your face? ect.

I am sure with the Rift S, you will get a very good VR experience, the Oculus Software is one of the best, if not the best.

I like the Index too, especially the 144hz, thats something special if you can run it.

21 hours ago, waleed said:

Sadly I am not sure yet of the exact details, but she wants it as a "walking tour" of some cities.

Nothing too complicated, and supposedly the scenery is already available online.

Cannot give more information as she is at work and is still gathering information.

I just figured I would "benefit?" as we have to get a VR system for International day at my daughters school.

 

 

Sounds like Rift S to me. "Nothing too complicanted" - Rift S. "Walking tour of some cities" - sounds like Google Earth VR. Rift S will be more than enough, image resolution wise. 

20 hours ago, OzWhitey said:

Calling the Rift S “barely usable” is crazy talk. It’s probably the most popular flight sim HMD at the present time.

I really don't care which one is the most popular, I'm only interested in the highest quality, which is IMO essential for flightsimming.

Once I removed the Rift S I was surprised how crisp and clear everything appeared on my low res 1920x1080 monitor.

3 hours ago, FDEdev said:

I really don't care which one is the most popular, I'm only interested in the highest quality, which is IMO essential for flightsimming.

Once I removed the Rift S I was surprised how crisp and clear everything appeared on my low res 1920x1080 monitor.

You might not care which is most popular, im just ponting out that it’s deeply misleading to refer to the Rift S as “barely usable”. It’s fine if its not your favourite, but thousands of simmers fly regularly with it. Hyperbole like this just adds to the misinformation that those who havent tried VR spread around these parts.

Rift S is great. I’ll also likely buy a Reverb to test when one becomes available where i live, was definitely lookingbfor one of these on black friday.

On 12/5/2019 at 2:49 AM, HiFlyer said:

Since I found the also tiny sweet spot on my (now sold) Samsung Odyssey+ so generally annoying, I myself would hesitate about the Reverb.

I also found the WMR software and its interdependence with Steam to be clumsy, and Steam itself less tolerant of low framerates compared to the superior oculus ASW algorithms.

Additionally, while the Oculus will happily run all Steam games, WMR will not happily run the many Oculus exclusive titles out there without the intervention of yet another program (Revive) having to be brought into the mix.

Generally, I found the WMR standard controllers to be kind of awful, and the batteries died much, much more quickly that the Oculus Touch controllers.

Hey, I bought my odyssey+ cos you were spruiking them last black friday! 🙂

I actually enjoyed it for a while, but agree with all of your points above, apart from maybe the controller bit (they’re ok, not great).

interestingly, i pulled the odyssey out this week and tried a couple of flights. Having got used to the rift s, the picture quality of the Samsung HMD was surprisingly poor. In my imagination, it was going to be sharper (which it should be, sort of), but flying p3d/NGXu this wasn’t the case. WMR software was a bit annoying as always, but i was psyched for that.

I can’t imagine flying in p3d with it again. Would certainly recommend the Rift S over it for anyone running this sim.